The war between Israel and Hamas this Saturday marked the second of the four days of truce with evident signs of fragility. It is clear that any spark can cause the entente sealed on Wednesday to blow up. This meant, on the one hand, that the exchange of 17 hostages (13 Israelis and four Thais) for 39 Palestinian prisoners (33 minors and six women) was delayed for several hours. Hamas reported on Saturday afternoon that it was delaying the exchange because Israel was failing to comply with the agreement with “many violations” of the cessation of hostilities. Its armed wing, the Ezedin al-Qassam Brigades, paralyzed the process in the afternoon, when, according to Israeli military sources, the release of hostages chosen for Saturday was already underway in the Gaza Strip. Late in the day, both Hamas and the Israeli army reported that the hostages were on their way to the Rafah crossing, the Gaza-Egypt border, held by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Israeli prison service later reported that Palestinian prisoners had also been released.
Again, as main mediators, Qatar, Egypt and the United States came to the rescue. This allowed the absence of bombing in Gaza to be maintained, which Israel threatened to resume at midnight; that the exchange of captives from both sides would finally take place and that the distribution of food and humanitarian aid to the north of the Strip would be expedited. Precisely this insufficient flow towards the area hardest hit by the conflict was the first argument used by the Islamists to put the brakes on before the waters returned to normal, late at night.
The Government of Qatar previously announced the release in Gaza of 13 Israeli hostages and seven foreigners, which ultimately amounted to four, as well as the release by Israel of 39 Palestinians, six women and 33 minors. During those hours of uncertainty, the Qatari emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, spoke with the president of the United States, Joe Biden.
Despite the complaints aired by Hamas, the Islamist movement that governs Gaza was willing to continue accepting proposals from the mediators and advance “new agreements,” according to what Taher Al-Nunu, one of the political leaders, told the Qatari network Al Jazeera. of the militia. The destruction of the armed Islamist group remains Israel’s main objective in the war, in reaction to the massacre of 1,200 Israelis on October 7.
Ceasefire extension
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Biden also harbors hopes that the current ceasefire can be extended. A delegation from Qatar arrived in Israel this Saturday in what some interpret as an attempt to move in that direction. Egypt also announced with some optimism that it is working to extend the truce for one or two days and that the exchange of hostages for prisoners could be greater than initially proposed – the agreement reached on Wednesday contemplates the exchange of 50 prisoners for 150 of those kidnapped by Hamas. Israeli territory.
Hamas, which reported days ago the death of 60 of the hostages and that Israeli bombings prevent it from keeping all of them under control, would have located a group of 10 or 20 more kidnapped in the last few hours. That could pave the way for extending the current truce agreement, which ends Monday. Israel estimates that the fundamentalist militia would be in a position to free 30 kidnapped people more than the 50 initially agreed upon, according to sources cited by the newspaper. Haaretz.
The afternoon, like Friday, was dotted with some incidents around the Israeli prison of Ofer, located in Betunia, in the occupied West Bank, where at least two Palestinians were injured by gunfire from soldiers stationed in front of the prison. It is in these facilities where the West Bank prisoners are transferred to the Red Cross for their definitive release and reunion with their families at the Betunia City Hall. Others, residing in East Jerusalem, leave from an Israeli police station in that city. In parallel, Hamas hands over the hostages to the Red Cross so that this institution, with decades of experience in these exchanges, can take them to the Israeli authorities next to the Gaza border with Egypt.
The Palestinian enclave, where Israel has killed more than 14,500 people, continues to experience unprecedented scenes in the last 50 days thanks to the ceasefire agreement, marked by the war conflict that began on October 7. Thousands of people crowd the streets, certain that they will not be targeted by the occupation troops. On the Israeli side, the media publishes the faces of the hostages who have already been released and who, until now, swelled the posters distributed throughout the country along with the legend “bring them home.” Tens of thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday afternoon in Tel Aviv to show their support, while thousands more in Jerusalem called for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose role remains in question.
This tranquility of the ceasefire gives more time to the population of the Strip to stock up and face the enormous needs that they have after more than seven weeks with hardly any access to something as basic as water, food, medicine, electricity or fuel. A convoy of 59 trucks managed to reach the north of the Strip with various help. Six carried food from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and 53 belonged to the Red Crescent, as confirmed to EL PAÍS by the spokesperson for this institution, Nebal Farsakh. “Our teams were able to unload in the north and return to southern Gaza without problems,” she added. It is the largest caravan of its type to date since the southern Rafah crossing, bordering Egypt, opened on October 21.
Two hundred trucks have entered the Strip through that point in the last few hours with food, water, medical equipment and materials to facilitate the shelter of the inhabitants, according to the Israeli authorities. In addition, four trucks arrived with fuel, essential to power the generators with which to face the electricity blackout with which Israel is punishing the Strip, and another four with gas that will allow some Gazans to cook. In any case, the UN itself recognizes that the flow of aid that is being distributed, much lower than what reached the Strip before the crisis generated by the war, is insufficient.
The United Nations also reported the evacuation of 21 critical patients from the north of the Strip, where the situation of hospitals due to the siege and Israeli attacks has been critical for weeks, according to local health authorities.
Israel has distributed images of the meetings of some of the 13 hostages released on Friday with their families after checking at a medical center that they do not suffer significant physical damage. This is the case of little Ohad, nine years old, who runs down the hallway towards his father’s arms. Or little Aviv Asher, two years old, and Raz, four years old, who were released along with her mother, Doron, while hugging the father of the family, Yoni. A military spokesman acknowledged that they are talking to them to obtain information, although they are not going to make it public. On the West Bank side, the town of Betunia was a party to receive 33 Palestinian prisoners, also women and minors, as hostages. Six other Palestinians were released in Jerusalem.
On the first day of the truce, on Friday, Hamas released 24 hostages, of whom 10 were Thai employees and one was Filipino. Iran said it had interceded for them. At least four were not on the list of those kidnapped on October 7 and in one case he had been presumed dead by his family, Reuters reports. The great Hamas attack of that day still has an exact number of victims that has not been clarified or identified, as has been demonstrated by the releases of these days. It also happens with people reported missing like the Spaniard Iván Illarramendi who, after weeks, become part of the dead after their remains are identified in a slow and arduous process that the Israeli authorities are carrying out with dozens of bodies.
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